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How can we help you sell your home, condo, lot or acreage? We've listed over 25 different ways below. As your listing agents we commit to getting your property sold. And we promise to always deliver the level of service that you expect from listing agents in today's market. We serve our selling clients in Madison, Dane County and South Central Wisconsin. (Note: if you are worried about losing your home to foreclosure, please read this article for useful links and information on how we can help you sell your home as a short sale.)
Marketing basics - for every listing we serve
These are just the basics. We do much more for each and every one of our clients. Your final marketing plan will include many other features that will depend a lot on your goals, property type and location. 1. Hire an interior designer who will help your home look its best. The designer will tour your home with you and offer simple solutions that will help your home show well. The consultation will focus on which items should "stay" and which should be "packed away" prior to putting your home on the market. The designer will also recommend simple and inexpensive ideas that will allow you to emphasize your home's nicer features. Here are some recommendations from a recent consultation. 2. Hire a professional photographer to create the photos for your listing. Over 90% of all home buyers now shop online, so it's critical that your photos be of very high quality. Great photos can create a great impact. Our photographer uses high-end equipment with a wide angle lens. He adjusts for lighting to make each room appear as bright and spacious as possible. Here are some sample photos from recent listings. 3. Create a virtual tour for your home, using the services of the professional photographer noted above. A virtual tour offers buyers a great way to view your home online. It presents your home in both slide show and video-like formats, allowing buyers to see more of your rooms and how your layout flows from one room to the next. Here's an example. 4. Create a professional video tour that is syndicated on Youtube.com, Wellcomemat.com, Zipvo.com, Viewr.com and many other video web sites. Our high quality video tours are professionally narrated, providing online buyers a virtual walk-through of your home. Here's an example. 5. Post your listing on the DaneCountyMarket.com home page. Our web site has become a popular destination for local buyers and continues to grow quickly. We currently receive over 6,000 unique visitors and over 80,000 page hits per month. In addition to our web site, your listing will appear on hundreds of other web sites such as Wisconsinhomes.com, Realtor.com, Google, Yahoo Real Estate, Zillow, Trulia, Oodle, RealtyTrac, RealEstateBook.com, HotPads.com, Point2Home.com, Geebo.com, Yuvie.com, Homescape.com, Propsmart.com, HouseLocator.com, FrontDoor.com, and BobVilla.com. 6. Advertise your home in The Real Estate Book, giving your home additional online and print media exposure. 7. Conduct periodic open houses as your schedule allows. 8. Create a professional, high quality marketing booklet for every person that tours your home. The booklet will highlight the features of your home and neighborhood, including information about area schools, parks, entertainment and shopping destinations. 9. Place weekly advertisements on craigslist, which will include a professional virtual flyer with plenty of pictures and information about your home. Your craigslist advertisement will include your professional photos and virtual tour. Here's an example. 10. Provide your listing with its own web site, based on the address of your home (for example, 123mainstreet.com). We'll post your web address with your yard sign. This gives viewers of your sign an easy way to learn more about your listing. 11. Perform a "reverse search" of the MLS and contact real estate agents assisting clients that are looking for a home similar to yours. Invite these agents to tour your home. 12. Provide your listing with text message marketing. Your yard sign rider will include a text message number. Buyers will be able to text the number and receive an immediate response that will include pictures and the details of your listing. Our system stores the buyer's cell phone number, allowing us to follow up directly with the buyer. 13. Create professional print flyers for you, so you can let people know about your listing at your place of work, place of worship, etc. See item #15 below to see how you can save money by finding your buyer. 14. Create a high quality, electronic flyer that you can email to you own network of friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members. Your contacts can then spread the word about your listing to their own set of acquaintances. Item #15 below explains how you can save money by finding your buyer. 15. Implement a variable commission structure. We offer variable commission incentives that will provide you with a nice savings under two different scenarios. - If the Dane County Market team finds your buyer, and the buyer is not working with another agent, we can substantially reduce your overall commission.
- If you, a friend, an acquaintance or family member finds the buyer, and the buyer is not working with another agent, we can substantially reduce your commission under this scenario, too.
We can offer a large commission savings for the two scenarios above because we've worked together to eliminate an agent on the buying side. There's no reason you should need to pay the full buying side commission if we've worked to eliminate a second agent from the transaction. 16. Provide regular updates on market changes in the neighborhood, including information on price changes, new homes entering the market, recently accepted offers, and recent closings (including sales price). Our goal here is to make sure your home remains competitive with the other homes on the market in your neighborhood. 17. Provide regular feedback from agents and buyer candidates who have toured your home to make sure your marketing plan stays on track.
More marketing options
Depending on your goals, property type and location, we can customize your marketing plan to include a number of additional marketing strategies. For example: 1. Use social media to market your home or condo. We've had great success with this strategy. We can show you how this works by demonstrating this for you on our laptop. 2. Announce your first open house by sending a postcard to the neighborhood a few days prior to the open. This strategy makes sense in neighborhoods with relatively low inventory levels, and in neighborhoods where residents recruit their friends to move to the area. In some cases we can also announce your first open house by sending an email to the people in your neighborhood. 3. Create a web page for your home and neighborhood on DaneCountyMarket.com. Then email the residents of your neighborhood, giving them information about your listing and the neighborhood market. Here's a web page example. 4. Conduct a neighborhood-wide open house. We can collaborate with other agents in the area to organize and promote a neighborhood-wide event. This will bring more buyers to the neighborhood and to your open house. 5. If you have a starter home, market your home to first-time homebuyer candidates. We can reach first-time home buyers in a number of different ways. 6. Offer a home warranty. The warranty lasts for a period of one year after the purchase, giving your buyers peace of mind. 7. Contact top-producing agents with information about your listing. We can reach out directly to agents who routinely assist a large number of buyers. 8. Conduct a "broker open" - an open house strictly for real estate agents. A broker open gives your home more exposure to buyer agents. It also offers you an opportunity to receive feedback from agents who tour homes every day. 9. Place directional signs in your neighborhood. Depending on your location, some well-placed signs can help guide commuters to your home. 10. Hire a professional cleaning crew for 10 hours of detailed cleaning. Your home will sparkle when our cleaning crew is done. 11. Implement other strategies that are a particularly good fit for your home. There are plenty of other ways that we can market a home. We'll be happy to sit down with you, learn more about your goals, and offer you some additional suggestions. We'll also look forward to learning about any creative marketing ideas that you may have for your listing.
A Sample Staging Consultation
Below you'll see our interior designer's staging recommendations for a recent client. Our client chose to implement many of the designer's recommendations, all of which were simple and cost-effective. Once the staging was completed, we brought in our photographer to take the pictures for the listing. The end result was a home that looked great on-line and in-person. This particular home received 14 showings and 2 offers in two weeks. The second offer was accepted on day 17 of the listing. Staging Recommendations - Foyer: Remove window treatment. Make a small valance to replace it.
- Foyer: Clean out closet.
- Foyer: Purchase a new rug.
- Guest bedroom: Remove desk.
- Guest bedroom: Replace bedroom desk with end table from living room.
- Guest bedroom: Place artwork above bed (ideas attached).
- Child's bedroom: Reverse position of the bed and dresser.
- Child's bedroom: Put green and yellow bedding on the bed.
- Child's bedroom: Move lamp from bookcase to the dresser.
- Blue bathroom: Hang white and blue towels on towel rack.
- Blue bathroom: Add plant to back of toilet.
- Blue bathroom: Put away personal items.
- Living room: Move lamp by sofa into guest bedroom.
- Living room: Check Bed, Bath & Beyond for "Three Lamps in a Box".
- Living room: For open house add a vase of fresh flowers to center of cocktail table.
- Kitchen: Remove paperwork from counter.
- Kitchen: Add some greenery to the top corner cabinet.
- Kitchen: Spread your striped pottery out among your greens.
- Kitchen: Place one of the striped bowls on the counter island. Place fresh fruit in the bowl.
- Kitchen: Straighten cupboards.
- Dining area: For open house, set the table. Include placemats, plates, napkins with rings, and goblet.
- Dining area: Add fresh flowers and candles to the center of the table.
- Master bedroom: Separate dressers. Move one to the wall by the bathroom door.
- Master bedroom: Purchase artwork for above the bed, or use your existing UW artwork.
- Master bedroom: Straighten closet.
- Master bath: Use cream towels.
- Master bath: Clean up the rack above the toilet.
- Master bath: Use the larger of the two rugs on the floor.
- Lower level: Move sectional to the left in order to allow for easier access to the closet.
- Lower level: Pack away games and some of the toys.
- Lower level: For open house, set up a board game on the cocktail table.
- Office: Move out files.
- Office: Angle bookcase in corner.
- Lower level bath: Purchase new towels in a pattern.
- Lower level bath: Fill glass vase with potpourri.
- Outside: Power wash deck.
- Outside: Add potted flowers to front stoop and back deck.
Quality photos - some examples
Staging and quality photos can make a huge difference in the success of listing. All of these photos come from the homes of recent clients. Note how our photographer makes each room appear as bright and spacious as possible, exposing the details of each room and giving each room plenty of depth.
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About us
This information is provided courtesy of Dan Miller and Shawn Kriewaldt of Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com. For more information, please contact Dan at 608-852-7071 (danielmiller@kw.com) or Shawn at 608-212-5743 (shawnkriewaldt@kw.com). Don't forget: if you're buying or selling, whether your timeline is 3 months or 3 years, we can help.
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